


Before the First Sunrise of Autumn

by Anonymous



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen, Good Friends, Historical Fantasy, Kidnapping, Loving Roger, problem solving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27336031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Roger's gone missing, but thankfully he has daring friends willing to risk it all to save him.
Relationships: John Deacon & Brian May & Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: anonymous





	Before the First Sunrise of Autumn

But where was Roger? 

That was the question on everyone's minds, a question seemingly without answer. He had simply vanished one day more thoroughly than the morning frost. Not leaving even dew to mark his presence. And it was from that very nothingness that came the greatest clue, because people couldn't completely disappear. If they left of their own will, their missing belongings spoke of their flight. If they were taken, that too would leave marks. Some disturbance, something. There was not so much as a footprint.

John had been the first to suggest it. Their precious John that they called Deacy. There was only one thing that took people without a trace. Brian refused to believe it at first. For all that he had been desperate to know of what could have happened to Roger, willing to search from the highlands to the marsh, this he could not accept. Not at first, but then, he loved Roger. Brian had been born an only child, and had struggled all his life with the loneliness. So Roger's friendship was as valued as any brothership. 

Freddie, their dreamer, had been hesitant to agree. He too was one of Brian's dear friends and feared being at odds with the scholar. But he could easily believe it in his heart, for he had always believed. 

Magic.

It was said to be dead and gone from their land for the last two hundred years. There were still rumors, myths, legends, of it lingering in their mortal world, effecting their lives. But that's all it had been, fantastical stories. No proof. Unless Deacy was right about this. That Roger's whole and so thorough vanishing meant he'd been taken by the Fair Folk. 

And Freddie, who's knowledge wasn't found in Brian's books, had an idea how they might bring him back. The Fair Folk were of the forest, but still there was no being too careful, lest they are suspect or thwarted. So Freddie lined his house with salt, careful to only step forward and speak in the quietest of whispers. Before he even spoke a word he handed them amulets he had crafted, cold iron that held rowan wood and St. John's wort. Hopefully they would be protection enough. These were his remaining best friends, and he would not see that number dwindle further. 

They sat, huddled, shoulder to shoulder, their foreheads nearly touching as Freddie whispered. "We must wait," he told his conspirators. "The realm is closed off to those that don't have magic, until the day when the veil between the world is at it's thinnest."

"The Autumn Equinox," Deacy realized.

"Just so," Freddie confirmed. "On that night, between the summertide and harvest, when the leaves glow red, green and gold. The west wind blows and under the light of the moon at midnight the ghosts come out to play. And journey to the Other realms is possible." 

The words sounded ritual to Brian. They might well have been part of a child's nursery rhyme. He did not recognize them but they rang true regardless. He knew names had power, and he felt these words did too. 

"What if it's a new moon?" Deacy dared to ask, would they have to wait another year to try and reach their friend?

Freddie didn't have an answer for that, instead turning to Brian. He felt odd and foolish with all of this and his adherence to science, but he was happy that at least in this he could help them. His astronomy notes were readily in the top of his bag. He had always wondered about Roger disappearing on the last day of the comet, and thought that any of his notes on it might be helpful. With how detailed he was in all his notes, a lunar chart was of course something he had.

He looked at what his book said in stunned shock. He couldn't help it. He looked up at his friends and their eager faces. "It's going to be a full moon." 

"A good omen," Freddie assured them. This omen was easy to read for one that practiced many divining arts, even ailuromancy. "I think getting there will be the easy part, stepping between the worlds at such a time should be no different than one foot in front of the other. The difficulty will be once we are there to find and free Roger. I don't have advice yet as how to find him, although I will consult the signs closer to the Equinox. 

As for freeing him," Freddie sighed. He liked to be confident and capable in all pursuits, but for the love of his friend, he was in need of that all the more. "It is likely they have Roger bound to them in some manner. On that I have two theories. One, we try to bind him to ourselves, food should work for this. Merely offering it to him, and him accepting by eating it. I'm not sure though, it's possible that as we don't have magic, nor the food of this place, that it will not work. My second theory is," Freddie looked away. His cat Miko was present and watching over them, nothing escaping her golden eyes. She'd know if they weren't in safety discussing these dangerous plans and thus her tranquility was a good sign. But for once this wasn't what concerned Freddie. "It's possible that Roger's bondage ends with his master's life."

"I thought They lived forever," Brian carefully did not name them, for surely their names held power more than most. 

Freddie just gulped, looking down. They in fact could not die of old age, Deacy understood. This meant what Freddie was suggesting was an unnatural end to their life. Murder. It would be terrible. Terrible, but just. Still he knew, that even as the youngest, he would be the one to burden that sin. Brian and Freddie souls were far too light for such a deed. There was only one thing he needed to know, "Cold iron?"

Freddie nodded hesitantly even as Brian looked on in confusion. Deacy felt bad for not enlightening the curly haired man, but perhaps it would be easier if he didn't know, not until the very last moment, as to not be burdened with even the idea of it. Deacy clenched his hand, watching his knuckles turn white. His days of labouring have made him strong and capable or so at least he hoped. He will see this done. For Roger.

Freddie took a bracing breath, Brian was clever, far too clever for his own good, and so they could not keep this from him forever. But maybe, hopefully, he would think only of Roger and not reason this out. "Then, once he is freed we should be able to return just as easily provided not too much time has passed."

"How much time is too much?" Deacy asked a difficult question. 

"Sunrise at the very latest," Or so he hoped. As long as the sun had not yet risen on autumn, there was a chance. 

"One last thing," Freddie said before any of them could feel relief, there were two actually but the second was the bad news he'd been refusing to word, the very real main obstacle that would be in their way. "It is *crucial* that we ourselves do not become bound there. That means no taking anything that might be there, not food, not drink, not clothing. Do not say your name. And," Freddie sighed. "Lastly their music can be dangerous. There are countless tales of people being bewitched by it, or dancing their well beings away."

There was a stonely silence as Deacy proceed the very real threat, but all the while Brian's mind was whirling. "Odysseus," Brian realised, Freddie and Deacy at him in pleased understanding. 

"Right. Beewax then, to put into our ears. I'm not sure that we won't need to talk it out to talk to Roger but still, any protection could be helpful," Freddie clutched to his amulet, they had little more than the clues their ancestors left in myth but hopefully it would be enough. 

"Or to talk to each other," Brian wondered.

Ah, yes, there had been that last thing Freddie had needed to tell them. He almost hoped that if he kept putting it off, a solution would appear, but no such luck. "We- That is to say," Deacy could already tell this wasn't going to be good news by how Freddie kept bracing himself. "There are three known realm of these Gentle Folk. The Pleasant Plain, The Grove of Apples, and the Land of Youth."

"And there are three of us." Deacy stated it plainly. They were seeking a missing friend but would it cost them their other friends? Deacy doesn't think Roger would want them to do such a thing, yet at the same time how can they call him friend, brother, if they do not? 

Brian, for all that he has known Roger the longest, looked the most hesitant. "I understand," Freddie said placing a hand on Brian's back, "that you could stay here, and finish your tutelage. This would be a grand accomplishment." Deacy knew this well, Brian had been the first of his family to achieve such, by the sweat of his father's brow. And now he could be throwing that all away. For what they believed in and loved. For Roger. It was a heavy price to pay but it was still one Deacy was willing to pay.

"I-"

"You have time still," Freddie reassured. Unlike Deacy, Freddie's expression didn't seem to have any doubt for what Brian would choose when the time came upon them. For the love they bared each other, there can be only one choice. To go after Roger. To which there was only one possibility, to come back with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Your prompt:  
> The leaves glow red, green and gold/Midnight is when the ghosts come out to play
> 
> Also.... so my prompt was 'roger' which I kind of accidentally.... uh in trying to make this a fic about him don't have him in this at all? Oops but also, it is all about the boys willing to risk everything for him so... almost fulling the prompt?


End file.
